Saturday, June 23, 2012

Cute, sweet, fuzzy bunny in the wet grass at Magee Marsh.....

After waiting out a passing thunderstorm, I climbed out of my car and walked up towards the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. Avoiding the parking pavement, I stuck to the grass at the forest's edge because I could hear a noisy Ovenbird calling out "teacher, teacher, teacher!" over and over. I was hoping to catch sight of him, which I did, but while I was watching him, I noticed movement in the grass about five feet from where I was standing. On my second glance, the cutest of the cute, cute, cutes came out to munch on the rain-soaked grass...

...when this young rabbit came out of the woods to nibble on the wet grass I froze. He was adorable, so I hunkered down in the grass and hoped he wouldn't hop away! He didn't. He watched me for a bit and then started nibbling again...

...stop with the head tilt, bunny. It's unfair use of the cuteness factor!(This is my favorite bunny photo in the series.)

:-) ...that little nose makes me smile!

These photos are all from the week I spent this May at Magee Marsh in Toledo, Ohio during spring migration for the Biggest Week in American Birdingfestival. Click here for all the Magee Marsh Biggest Week posts.

(...also... Magee Marsh is one of the sites on the Nature Conservancy's Natural Treasures of Ohio sweepstakes (May 22 - August 8). Click herefor details.)

Heh, heh! I see so many rabbits in the course of the day that I never think to photograph them; they're a ubiquitous part of the scenery everywhere I've lived. Now if I could get close enough to a Chipmunk and make him sit still for a while...

...thanks, everyone! What a wonderful encounter this was. I sat in the grass and moved slowly. I couldn't believe his proximity. He actually came closer to me while he was eating. I made little crooning sounds every now and then that he seemed to like.

My Camera and Lenses

I hand hold the camera for all my photos (I used to use a monopod or tripod for distance and macro, but the VR lenses don't seem to require it). I crop the images down in Aperture (I'm a Mac).

The Story Behind "Red and the Peanut"

Red and the Peanut is named after my first bird memory. When I was about six, I was at my Great Aunt Mary's house and she was telling me about Red and the peanut. "Red" was a Northern Cardinal that had trained Aunt Mary to feed it peanuts on demand. Since Aunt Mary's "Red" started it all, what better name could I choose?